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P is for PerilBy Sue GraftonMacmillan, price not mentionedTHE last time one saw Dr Dowan Purcell was the night he left Pacific Meadows nursi...

P is for Peril
By Sue Grafton
Macmillan, price not mentioned

THE last time one saw Dr Dowan Purcell was the night he left Pacific Meadows nursing home, where he had been working since retirement. He bid his colleagues good night, climbed into his car and left never to be seen again. Though the media played up his disappearance, the police claimed they were foxed. However, his first wife Fiona was convinced that he was still alive and had disappeared to make insurance claims or get out of a confrontation with someone. To resolve the mystery, she hires Kinsey Millhone, a private detective. Starting with ‘A is for Alibi’, Grafton has worked her way past half the alphabet and with this book has reached ‘P’. An interesting read.

— Megha Bahree

The European Modernity
Science, Truth and Method
By J P S Uberoi
OUP, Price: Rs 445

HOW does one come to terms with modern Europe? Does one concede to the monopoly of its self-representation or does one simply refuse to engage with it? Sociologist Uberoi chooses to do neither. He feels it is too simplistic to explain European cultural monopoly simply as an expression of its power and imperialism. Such a position negates the inherent dualism between its cultural institutions and power structures. And so he picks historical moments — the coming together of elite Renaissance in southern Europe with the popular Reformation of the north in 15 century, the expansion of imperialism as system of power and the diffusion of Enlightenment as a pattern of culture — to arrive at an insightful and brilliant critique of its modernity.

— Vidya ShivAdas

Donald Trump may replace H-1B lottery with wage-based selection process

World5 hr ago

Days after hiking the fees for new H-1B applications to $100,000, the Donald Trump administration has proposed to overhaul the visa process for high-skilled non-immigrant workers. The Trump administration has suggested a wage-based selection process for the H-1B programme, instead of the current lottery system.

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